Much ado about nothing

I get to work today, and Upper Management has decided to put into place a new dress code, and I'm pretty pissed off about it.

I realize that this is their prerogative, and that it's really not a big deal, that they have to maintain professionalism and all that. But this feels like a lot of bullshit for no good reason.

Before this we were on the incredibly vague 'business casual' code, which basically means 'don't wear anything offensive or revealing'. And this was fine. I work in a call center, we don't NEED anything more.

Now it's what they are calling a "business appropriate" code, which is much more codified and specific. Most of it is just "nothing offensive or revealing", but a few points in specific really grind my gears.

The first is that all t-shirts from now on must be plain. Nothing on them at all. Even on casual days, you're restricted to logos and scenery and shit, no 'slogans'(whatever THAT means). This is easily the most minor of them. I just wear a shirt over top, and if I get hassled about it just do up some buttons.

Then they put a ban on sneakers. Gotta wear dress shoes. This pisses me off, because I can't wear dress shoes. I have the flattest feet in the world. I have the most comfortable dress shoes known to man, and they're filled with extremely expensive orthotics, and they STILL never fail to give me blisters.

And there's a ban on hooded sweatshirts. I don't have any NON-hooded sweatshirts. The reason for this is a) I like the style better, and b)I had frostbite in my ears when I was a kid, and ever since then my ears are extremely sensitive to the cold. If it's a day that requires a sweater at ALL, I need something covering my ears. End of story.

Are these really big deals? No, not really. But it's annoying, especially when there's no good reason for the change. Nobody was wandering the corridors half-naked, and everyone was dressed in an appropriate manner. I get the feeling that we're getting punished for shenanigans over in another department.

Am I the only one who doesn't get the connection between clothing and doing your job well? OK, fine, if you're working with people face-to-face it's important to project a professional image, but this is a call centre. The customers never see us. I'm not going to treat the customers any differently just because I'm wearing sneakers instead of dress shoes, or if my t-shirt has a logo on it. If the guy across the row has a hoodie, what business is it of mine? It doesn't affect my performance, and shouldn't affect his either.